Chinese school performance

This year the Noodle started attending Chinese school.  It meets every Saturday morning from 9-11 and they work on spoken and written Mandarin as well as Chinese culture.  Her class is taught by a native speaker, however most of her peers are like her in that they have parents who do not speak any Mandarin at home.  There are other classes at the school for children who do have native speakers at home, so the pace and focus of these classes is obviously much faster and with a different emphasis. On Saturday afternoons children may also sign up for Chinese dance, martial arts, ping pong, etc.  At this point the Noodle decided she wasn't interested, but maybe next year?

Overall it has been a huge success.  She grumbles every Saturday morning before she has to leave (usually about wanting to stay in her jammies, etc., etc.,) but she's all smiles when we pick her up when class is finished.  She is very interested in China and enjoys learning about the country, its customs and its language, so this has been a good fit.

The Chinese New Year coincides with the school's annual fund raiser so there is a big dinner as well as a performance for the families to see what the students have been learning.  We had been to the celebration one other time, so we knew a little about what to expect, but there were waay more people this time so the lines were much longer--especially for the food!

Grandma, Grandpa, Lala, Papa and our good friends from church all came out to help us celebrate. There were quite a few acts--children dancing, "grandmas" doing the rumba, skits, tai chi and martial arts.  We didn't end up staying for all of it, but was definitely a great way to cap off a fun Chinese New Year!

2016--The year of the monkey

Over the past year, we have been blessed to become friends with another family from church who are American born Chinese.  Not only are they so much fun to hang out with and are always up for a good time, but they have taken us under their wings and allowed us to delve a bit deeper into the Chinese culture.

As with many relationships, this bond has been strengthened through the mutual love of sharing and eating food.  Coming to the table together helps to draw people out, linger and really share.

We've made jiaozi, gone for Sunday dim sum after church, churned homemade ice cream, participated in hot pot, celebrated Christmas Eve English tea, and even helped feed over 50,000 people in a Care for AIDS project.  We're also experiencing life together as part of a small group at church.

So when we were invited over to celebrate Chinese New Year, of course we jumped at the chance! We knew it would be a traditional/authentic meal (read: some foods we've never had before!!) but we were up for it.  Girls included ;)

While my friend, L, is an awesome cook (probably one of her love languages), her hubby, S, decided to take the lead and went.to.town.  When we saw her at church Sunday morning, she informed us that he was at home preparing the pig trotters.  Yes, you read that right, pig feet.  Insert deep breath here.

When we got there Sunday night, on the eve of Chinese New Year, the kitchen was hopping!  All kinds of delicious smells greeted us and the kids were beyond excited.

I swore that I'd take notes so that I'd remember all of the menu items, but then got carried away with talking and so didn't.  Here's hoping I can keep everything straight...

 Bok Choy with mushrooms and dried scallions

"Long life" noodles with pork

"Long life" noodles with tofu

A whole chicken (head, skin, bones--literally a WHOLE chicken!)

A whole fish (see above)

Turnip cakes

The famous pig trotters

Rice cakes with cabbage, mushrooms, fish cakes and pork

 Then, for dessert....

Almond cookies, coffee and strawberry roll cakes, mango jigglers, various Chinese candies, tangerines, pomelo and Mei Mei's Gotcha Day cake, the super-sweet American mint chocolate cake and

 glutenous rice balls with peanut and coconut with sesame (?) filling

 The kiddos had fun slurping the jigglers.

After we finished eating, we all sat around and I read a book that we had brought before we turned on the Super Bowl--

J of course couldn't resist this one, the matchmaker.  We sent this to my brother.  The chicken head and the fish head kissing.  Ooo la la!

 And you know it was a great CNY when you turn around in the garage and see this.

Happy year of the Monkey everyone!

Happy Chinese New Year Eve

Gong Hey Fat Choy!

 Everyone wore their silks or red for church this morning to celebrate Chinese New Year's Eve.

Later on today we're going over to our friends' house for a traditional CNY feast.  Should be yummy!  Happy Year of the Monkey!

Chinese New Year decorations

Chinese New Year this year starts on Monday, Feb. 8th.  It will be the year of the monkey.  Since the Christmas wreath came down but it's too early to put up the Spring one, our front door was looking a little bleak.  I decided to put together a quick little CNY wreath with a tutorial to boot.  Lucky you! We've got this up, along with our CNY bunting, so we're feeling festive.  Interested?  Read on!

Supplies:
wreath form (either one of those green foam ones or a straw one)
red ribbon (act fast, and maybe you can snag a Christmas one from JoAnn's on clearance-woot!)
small-headed pins
lai see/hong bao (red envelopes from the Chinese market)
thinner red ribbon
paper punch

The pictures pretty much speak for themselves, but basically you're going to wrap the ribbon all around the wreath form, pinning to secure every few wraps.

Once the entire wreath is wrapped, then punch holes in the red envelope and thread the thinner red ribbon through the holes.  Pin that to the wreath.

Finally, take the left over ribbon and make a loop and sew the top forward and back a few times to create a hanger.

Ta-Da!  Your cheery Chinese New Year wreath is ready to hang up!

To keep the festivities going, when the girls were off from school last week, we decided to get our craft on by making some kumquat thumbprint art (inspiration from here).

 A fun little activity!  Happy Year of the Monkey!